progressive tax

The GOP approach of cutting taxes and slashing expenses has its attractions: Nobody likes paying taxes, and "tightening our belts" sounds ever so grown up. But these proposed cuts in taxes and spending will benefit the wealthy, while placing an outsized burden on the country's poor and middle class.

By law, the thresholds for the marginal federal income tax brackets must change each year to keep pace with inflation. For 2009, those brackets are as follows: Taxpayers Filing as Single: 10% on taxable income between $0 and $8,350 15% on taxable income between $8,350 and $33,950; plus...

A new report from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center finds that roughly 47% of households won't end up owing any federal incomes taxes for the year 2009. Most households earning less than $30,000 per year fall into this category, as do nearly half of those earnings between $30,000 and $40,000. Some...